Quick Fact – Holiday Dream
1961 Dick Seller boasted that, within a year, a new luxury gambling resort would be built 100 miles from civilization, on a 100-acre parcel he owned (and named Holiday) in Humboldt County in Nevada’s desert…
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Games / Races: Faro
George "Tex" Rickard
Goldfield Hotel (Goldfield, NV)
Nevada
Quick Facts
The Northern (Tonopah, NV)
Wyatt Earp
Quick Fact – Earp Myths
1905 Folklore has it that Wyatt Earp was the pit boss at The Northern in Goldfield, Nevada for George “Tex” Rickard, the proprietor. But it likely is false, according to Nevada historians, Jeffrey Kintop and Guy…
Quick Fact – Slots Semantics
Today In the U.S. we call them slot machines and one-armed bandits. In Australia, they’re pokies. People in the United Kingdom call them fruit machines, or fruities. Other names? Photo from freeimages.com: by Tijmen van…
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Gambling
Games / Races: Poker
It Really Happened
Quick Facts
Steamboat Springs (Reno, Nevada)
Virginia City--Nevada
Quick Fact – Steamboat Springs
1860s & 1870s In Virginia City, Nevada’s heyday, gold miners and magnates alike sought out R&R — gambling, hot springs soaking and dining — at the nearby Steamboat Springs resort south of Reno, a stop…
California
Did You Know?
Gambling
Gambling: Shills
Games / Races: Poker
Gardena--California
Quick Facts
Quick Fact – Shill Losses
1952 When Ernest J. Primm owned the Monterey Club, a poker house in Gardena, California (a Los Angeles suburb), he claimed on his state income taxes the losses of his shills, up to $500 ($4,500 today) a…
Quick Fact – Bluebell Girls
1958 Sixteen glamazon, primarily English dancers from Paris’ Lido Club troupe were imported to open Las Vegas’ Stardust hotel-casino. The Bluebell Girls’ show broke all attendance records; about 1,400 people left the gaming tables and…
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Entertainment
Ethnic Groups: African Americans
International Hotel (Las Vegas, NV)
Las Vegas Hilton (Las Vegas, NV)
Natalie Cole
Quick Facts
Quick Fact – Natalie Cole
1976 Natalie Cole made her Nevada performance debut at the Las Vegas Hilton hotel-casino (formerly the International Hotel) on a double bill with Bill Cosby in April.
Quick Fact – Dancing Waters
1955 A dancing waters routine at the new Royal Nevada hotel-casino upstaged big-money entertainers — Carmen Miranda, Danny Thomas, Liberace and others — in Las Vegas, Nevada. The five fountains of colored water (30 tons…
Quick Fact – Train Hustlers
1935 Stanford University’s (California) Indians and Southern Methodist University’s (Texas) Mustangs were to vie in the Rose Bowl football game on New Year’s Day, and this meant trains of people traveling from The Lone Star State to…
Casinos / Gambling Saloons / Card Clubs / Slot Routes / Wire Services / Hotels / Racetracks / Racinos
Did You Know?
Gambling
Games / Races: Bingo
Games / Races: Craps
Quick Facts
Quick Fact – Playing Incentives
1947 To keep players gambling at their clubs, Las Vegas, Nevada casinos boosted incentives with offerings such as double odds on craps, bingo prizes of $1,000 ($10,900 today), extra slot machine jackpots and brand new…
Quick Fact – Slot Keys
1942 The Las Vegas, Nevada Board of Commissioners ordered all commercial slot machine owners to drop off to the local police station a master key for each of their devices to: • Ensure the devices…
Quick Fact – Chip Deposit
1948 A guest of the Flamingo hotel-casino in Las Vegas, Nevada accidentally took home a $5 ($50 today) gambling chip then deposited it into the Bank of Arizona. The bank mailed to the Flamingo the…